The Hawk
by EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: Clare Barton has always lived in the shadows but with the fall of SHIELD she's been forced into the light. She knows that the team wont enjoy her past but they've only heard part of it. And who is the man with the metal arm who keeps popping up these days. Fem! Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye Possible Winterhawk
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Ok this idea popped into my head a while back cause of a planned cosplay. It is Fem Clint aka Clare Barton. May be some parings here but idk, and before you ask yes there's Clintasha but it may or may not be platonic, Natasha remains the same. I reference a scene here that was supposed to be in Winter Soldier but was cut cause Jeremy Renner couldn't make it to set to film it. I own nothing.**

The Hawk

1 Compromised

Clare sat atop Stark Tower watching the city and thinking, absently rubbing her bruised face. There was a crack in her jawbone but really when getting punched in the face by Captain America what did she really expect. She'd known something was up when Pierce called her off a covert op in Calcutta and directly into his office. She'd learned of the untimely demise of Director Fury. She didn't believe it for a second, Fury would have to make it look real if anyone ever tried to kill him but really, no, Fury wouldn't go out like that. Then Pierce had practically dropped a bomb on her. Apparently Captain America was a traitor along with The Black Widow. Widow she could see maybe defecting if the circumstances were bad enough but Cap? That set off all her alarm bells. But she hadn't argued to Pierce's face, if SHIELD had gone bad that would just get her killed. She'd been told they were tracking Cap from a tracker Fury had placed in his uniform. She'd followed him and cornered him in a ravine outside New York. She had to make it look real, they were watching her, not regular SHIELD following either, a Qin Jet was hovering over them, cloaked but she knew it was there. When she got close enough she told Cap as much. Of course he'd been holding her by her shirt front trying to reason with her at the time.

"Don't react, you'll get us both killed. Cap you've got a tracker in your suit, ditch it. There's a Qin Jet above us, make it look real." It was then he'd nodded a fraction of an inch and punched her in the face, knocking her out. She'd woken up in a SHIELD hospital. Pierce had been there to question her, though that's not why he said he was there. She was put on medical leave until her jaw healed, which of course gave her enough time to clear out and go into hiding. She hated asking him for help but she really didn't have a choice. Tony had raised an eyebrow at her when she'd arrived at his tower in street clothes, her hood pulled up.

"Does that offer to live in the tower still stand?" Tony nodded and looked her up and down.

"I can have your stuff shipped in by tomorrow." Clare shook her head holding up an old beat up army duffle.

"No need, got everything right here." Tony's eyebrow climbed further.

"Bit eager to move in aren't you? Everything ok?" Clare shook her head slightly.

"Let's just say if what I think's going to happen happens I'll be glad to be anywhere but my old place when the shit hits the fan." Tony shook his head and led her to the elevator. Apparently she got a whole floor to herself, Tony had gone out of his way to make floors that had sat empty for months after the Battle of New York, personalized for each avenger. Her floor had high ceilings and plenty of ways to get to them, nests all over the room at varying heights, mostly as a joke but Clare had already stashed several weapons and snacks in the nests. Her room was nice with a nicer bed than she'd had in a long time.

Clare had been right to come to the tower. While Tasha and Steve were busy taking down Pierce and his Helicarriers several Hydra agents, dressed in SHIELD gear, had attacked the tower intent on taking down any backup Steve and Natasha could have. Clare had taken them down on her own. Tony hadn't had any suits ready built and no one wanted to deal with the Hulk running around New York again so they had dealt with the evacuation of the building. Once the building was clear of Hydra goons and a few of Clare's contacts from the CIA had come to pick them up Clare had retreated to the roof where she now sat waiting for Natasha to contact her.

She was pretty beaten up but she refused to care until she heard from Natasha. Finally, almost two hours after the hydra agents had been taken care of she got a text on her burner cell phone. It simply read,

' _SHIELD taken down. All covers blown. Check the web. Sorry : ( .'_ Clare raised an eyebrow at her phone before turning back to the tower and racing down the stairs to her floor. She vaulted up one of the walls grabbing hold of the edge of one of the nests and pulling herself up into it with difficulty as her ribs protested. She ignored them, ignored the door opening below, Tony and Bruce calling her name as she flipped open her laptop. She pulled up the Yahoo news page and swore loudly, drawing the attention of the two scientists below. Plastered all over the page was news about the takedown of SHIELD and classified SHIELD info that had been plastered all over the internet. In and among the headlines was one that made Clare want to throw her laptop across the room. The headline read _Hawkeye: Circus Freak or Avenger?_ Tony was looking up at the nest she was in. She swore under her breath again as her ribs gave another painful twinge. She should probably get that looked at but she had other things to worry about. She pulled out her burner and typed a reply to Natasha.

' _SHIELD/Hydra secrets all over the internet, nice. Everyone survive?'_ There was a short wait before the red head replied.

 _'_ _Steve in hospital. Just out of ICU heals fast. His shield is missing. Bottom of Potomac. Help with that?'_ Clare nodded to herself as she sent Natasha a quick yes. She leapt down from her perch and rolled to her feet as she landed in front of Tony and Bruce. Both men were looking at her like she was crazy, though that could just be all the dried blood on her face. Only some of it was hers. Ignoring Bruce's concerned face she turned to Tony.

"I need a ride to the Potomac. Can I borrow your plane?" Tony stared at her in disbelief.

"You wanna go to the Potomac, where the wreckage of three Helicarriers is waiting and do what exactly?! Scavenge!" Clare's eyes narrowed. It was clear that Tony had read the article and jumped to his conclusions.

"Sure if that's what you wanna think that's fine. I'll have my stuff out when I get back." Clare pushed past him and walked out the doors. Bruce stared after the archer.

"You didn't read the whole article did you?" Tony glared at him. Bruce shook his head. They both looked up at the sound of an engine on the roof.

"That bitch is stealing my Quin Jet! Jarvis shut it down!" The British voice responded immediately.

"I am unable to comply sir. I have been shut out of the Quin Jet. All external links to the jet have been shut down." Tony swore louder. Bruce looked impressed.

"Barton is smarter than she acts." Tony glared at him.


	2. On The Shore

**Author's Note: I promised I would get this chapter out by tonight. Here it is. I own nothing.**

2 On The Shore

Clare landed the Quin Jet as close as she could to the bank of the Potomac as she could and began searching along it for signs of someone washing ashore. She didn't find any. What she found instead was signs of a body being dragged. She pulled out her burner phone and called Natasha. She picked up on the second ring.

"You find the shield Clare?" Clare smiled slightly.

"What no hello Sweetie how was your day?" There was a stoic silence from the other end of the line. Clare cleared her throat.

"No, not yet. I just got here. There's drag marks on the shore here. Footprints too. Who else was here Nat? Cause from the looks of it they saved Cap." Before Natasha could answer there was a loud splash from out in the water. Anyone else would have ignored it but Clare knew that the smallest detail could be life and death. She hung up on Natasha and quickly climbed a nearby tree, hiding in its dense foliage. About a minute later a figure emerged from the water dragging something behind it. He was tall with long brown hair and deep haunted eyes. He wore black and the dying sunlight glinted off his metal arm. Clare took all this in quickly then focused on the item in his normal hand. It was Caps shield. Clare tensed, quietly pulling her bow off her shoulder and nocking an arrow. She took a deep breath and rolled out of the tree. She landed on her feet in front of the man who tensed reaching for a gun that didn't seem to be there. His fist curled and he lowered into a defensive stance.

"Drop the shield and no one has to get hurt." The man's eyes narrowed. Then he spoke, his speech was broken and halting, like he was trying to remember how to form words.

"You were in his file. You're the hawk, the archer." Clare kept her bow drawn.

"Whose file? Steve's? Yeah, we're friends and that's his shield. I'm here to get it back for him." The clenched fist didn't relax but his stance seemed to relax slightly like the tension had gone out of his shoulders.

"He's alright?" Clare's eyes narrowed. She studied the man's face for a moment before answering.

"He's in the hospital, but he should be alright from what I hear. I'm headed there after I get that shield back from you. Now if we have to fight to do that, that's fine, bring it on. But I've been fighting all day and I really don't wanna have to fight any more if I don't have to." The man looked her over, seeming to only have just noticed the injuries that covered her. He set down the shield but didn't move. Clare's eyes narrowed further.

"Step back from it. I know better than to get close to someone I don't know." Especially someone who had read Steve's SHIELD dossier. The man paused then stepped away but only a little. Clare knew she wouldn't be able to pick up the shield with her bow still drawn so she carefully let the bowstring go slack and placed the arrow back in her quiver. She kept her bow in hand knowing that she could do some damage with just that if she needed to. She carefully, slowly stepped forward, careful to keep her eyes on the man the whole time as she picked up the shield. Her ribs were protesting loudly but she ignored them as she slid the shield onto her arm. She never took her eyes off the man, he never moved.

"Who are you?" She couldn't help but ask him as they stood, apparently at a standstill.

"I wish I knew." He sounded so sad that Clare couldn't help taking a small step towards him without thinking. Then her phone rang like a shot through the silence. She glanced down at her pocket and by the time she looked up again the man was gone, running off into the forest away from where Clare had left the Quin Jet. Clare debated going after him for a moment but right now it was more important that she get Cap back his shield back. And maybe get someone to look at her ribs which might be broken. She couldn't decide if they were or not. She trudged back to the Quin Jet feeling very tired.

Natasha looked down at her phone and tapped her foot, impatience was eating away at her. It had been almost a half an hour since Clare had abruptly hung up on her. She did that sometimes if she noticed something that needed her immediate attention or if she spotted a threat. But normally she called right back after she had dealt with the threat. Not that anything about this was normal. These days normal was as relative as the truth to her. She heard the roar of a Quin Jet and looked up to see one of Starks models landing in the back forty parking lot. A single figure walked out of the jet and made their way towards the hospital entrance. When she rounded the corner of the back lot into the front one Natasha saw it was Clare limping along, Captain America's shield on her arm. Natasha rushed forward to meet Clare halfway, helping her to the door despite the girl's protests. Natasha could tell that Clare was injured from the way she was walking but Clare refused to see any doctors until after she made sure Cap was ok.

When they entered the room Sam tensed in his chair but relaxed when he saw Natasha. He stood when Clare entered. Clare sized him up. He stuck out his hand.

"Sam Wilson." She nodded and took his hand.

"Clare Barton." Sam nodded rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hawkeye right?" Clare nodded and pulled Caps shield off her arm placing it down by the bed and wincing as she did so. Sam looked like he wanted to help but was warry of the assassin. That made Clare smile a little.

"I'd say I know your alias but I don't. All I know is you helped Cap and Nat and that makes you ok in my book." She flopped down onto the bed next to Caps, visibly curling in pain as she landed on one of her bad ribs. Natasha rushed to her side, pressing the emergency button on the bed as she did. Soon doctors were rushing in and despite her protests a needle was inserted into her arm and soon she gave way to the pain killers, slipping into a blissful dreamless sleep as the door burst open, Tony barging in followed by an apologetic looking Bruce.


	3. Starting The Story

**Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while; I've been sick for a while. I own nothing.**

3\. Starting the Story

Natasha grabbed Tony by the ear and dragged him out of the room as the doctors surrounded the bed Clare was laying on. She left Bruce to talk to Sam and check up on Steve as she dragged the inventor out of the room and back into the hallway. She finally let go of his ear and he scowled at her rubbing it.

"What the hell was that Stark!?" Tony frowned at Natasha as he rubbed his ear self-consciously.

"She stole my Quin Jet and wouldn't tell us what's going on!" Natasha's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"She also saved your life against Hydra agents who would have been happy to slit your throat and never look back, and is now laying in a hospital bed because of that." Tony looked down at his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. Before either of them could say anything someone cleared their throat behind them. They turned and Bruce nodded to Natasha.

"The doctors want to talk to someone who knows Clare's medical history. Out of us I'm guessing that's you Natasha?" Natasha nodded and brushed past him into the room after fixing Tony with another withering stare. She disappeared behind the doors. Once he was sure she was out of earshot Tony flopped down in one of the chairs in the hall.

"God that woman is frightening. How can a woman who can't be more than one hundred thirty pounds soaking wet be so scary?" Bruce shook his head.

"She's defending someone she cares about; we all get a bit scary when we do that." Tony nodded slightly running his hand through his hair. Bruce pulled his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Tony who caught it in surprise.

"They're probably going to be a while and there's an article you should actually read, not skim." Tony momentarily glared at Bruce before looking down at the phone. The article was already open.

About half an hour later Natasha came out of the hospital room, she paced back and forth for another good twenty minutes. Finally, the doctor came back out and smiled at Natasha.

"She's gonna be fine. She had three cracked ribs, a crack in her jaw, and quite a few bumps and bruises. We were worried that one of her ribs might have broken entirely but we got lucky. She's on bedrest for the next week or so and should take it easy after that for quite some time. Her hearing aids are on the side table, she shouldn't wake up for a few hours yet, we're gonna keep her for observation for at least a few days, same with Captain Rodgers." Tony shot to his feet, eyebrows raised.

"Wait hearing aids?" Natasha's glare silenced him. She motioned for the doctor to continue.

"We've got a prescription for pain pills and, I hate to ask but you didn't list any insurance on her paperwork." Tony piped back up at this.

"I've got her covered for that. Here hand me the paperwork." The doctor nodded and handed the paperwork over to Tony who pulled out his phone and speed dialed Pepper.

"I'm going to give her a prescription for antibiotics as well, that's for the jaw, mostly just preventative though. Plenty of ice is a good idea too, it helps keep the swelling down. She'll need to take it slow for at least six weeks. Call if she's got any problems." Natasha nodded and the doctor turned back to Tony who was filling out the paperwork with his phone jammed against his ear.

"Yes. Yes. Yes, perfect. Thanks Pepper. I appreciate it. Yeah and if you could schedule some maintenance on the tower, it took a beating too. No it's not as bad as last time. No, I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Yes, I'll call when I know. Yes, I know. Yes, I know that this craziness is why we broke up but you are still amazing at handling it Pepper. Yes. Thank you. Bye." He hung up the phone and handed the paper back to the doctor.

"Captain Rodgers is under the same insurance." The doctor nodded and walked off with the paperwork.

"Ok so what's this about hearing aids? That wasn't anywhere in her file or the article about that. It was sans quite a few details that I'd like filled in." Natasha shook her head as she led the two back into the room where Steve and Clare were resting. Sam still sat in the chair next to Steve's bed looking half asleep. Natasha patted him on the shoulder. He smiled up at her.

"Get some rest I'll keep watch." Sam nodded but didn't move, simply closing his eyes and wiggling around in his chair to get a bit more comfortable. Natasha walked past him to the chair by Clare's bed. Instead of sitting in it she perched herself on the edge of her partners bed and looked her over. Then she sighed. Tony was looking at the small devices on the table next to the bed.

"So wait is she completely deaf?" Natasha sighed again.

"Yes. She's completely deaf. She's been deaf since before I met her, but not since birth. The aids are special SHEILD issue. They make it so she can hear better than she ever did before. At least that's what she and Coulson told me." Natasha looked over her partner one more time before sighing again. She would never admit it but this scared her worse than anything else. Clare was her best friend and she hated seeing the archer hurt.

"You should really be hearing her story from her. So here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna tell you how we met and that's it." Tony was about to protest when Natasha fixed him with a glare that silenced him. Natasha cleared her throat.

"It all started in Budapest."


End file.
